Demand for purchase mortgages during the week ending Jan. 14 dropped by a seasonally adjusted 1.9 percent from the week before and fell 16 percent from a year ago, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in releasing the results of its weekly applications survey.

"Mortgage rates have moved somewhat lower since the beginning of the year, as mixed data on the job market continue to cloud the outlook for the economy," said Michael Fratantoni, MBA’s vice president of research and economics. "Refinance applications have picked up, as borrowers take advantage of lower rates, but purchase applications remain quite low, indicating that home sales are unlikely to pick up any time soon."